Realizations and Reconciliations
by Pyroarxon
Summary: AU. An alternate world where the five lands coexist with our own world. Three girls. Three boys. Letters back home. And all the drama that comes with big secrets and childhood tragedies. [SasuIno] [SasuSaku] other pairings to come and rating may change


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I want to own Naruto, nor do I own the idea of AUs. All I own is these words in this particular sequence.

This is an AU story, taking place in a world not unlike our own. I tried to stay close to character, but their personalities are somewhat different because of different circumstances. The most extreme cases are Ino, Sasuke, and Gaara.

Translations in bold

Ino stared at her father, her pupiless blue eyes blank and uncaring. "Ok. I'm going to be an exchange student. That's nice" she said blankly. Her father sighed.

"Ino, I know you hate them but…" he started. Ino looked at him, her eyes confused instead of emotionless.

"But…I don't hate other countries, even if they are kinda weird", she mused. Her father winced, then closed his eyes as if bracing for impact.

"Umm, well, you're not the only exchange student that we're sending…" he mumbled. Ino looked at him oddly for a minute, but the something clicked.

"Are you saying", she asked, her voice dangerously low," That Uchiha _Sasuke _and his idiotic girlfriend are going with me?" Inoichi Yamanaka winced at his daughter's cold tone.

"I-I didn't decide it!" he exclaimed. Somehow his daughter never failed to scare him, although she lacked the one thing that determined power in their village, the center of one of the five Ookii Riidaa Tochi **(loosely, Great Leader Lands)**. She had lost the power to defeat any member of the village, or any of the lands, yet she still terrified most people who met her. The exceptions were Haruno Sakura and her boyfriend, Uchiha Sasuke, not to mention Ino's friends. It seemed to Inoichi that she could only make friends with people like her. Misfits. Outcasts. Freaks. Soulless; or too much soul.

"Then who did decide it?" Ino rudely interrupted her father's train of thought. The older Yamanaka sighed.

"It was Hokage-sama's decision", Inoichi assured his incensed daughter. "And yes, I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen. She's set on sending the three of you to America." Ino's brow furrowed, but she made not further protest. Relieved, Inoichi left. He didn't like to be near his strange daughter for to long.

The plane was far off schedule, but Ino didn't notice or didn't care. Her head was buried in her hands, trying to ignore the two people next to her, the pink haired girl sitting between her and the pale boy sitting next to the isle pointedly making loud noises as she kissed the boy nest to her. Ino closed her eyes, muttering under her breath. "They're not worth it…ignoring them…." Instead of getting herself angrier, she thought about her real friends.

Oddly enough, the voice that bought her out of her reverie was one of the ones she had just been thinking about. Sighing, she flopped her head back and opened her eyes, staring at the brown hair and wonky makeu- "face paint", Ino mentally corrected herself, of one of her first, and best, friends.

"Kankuro-kun", she said lazily. Aforementioned boy grinned.

"Wow, Ino. What are you doing here?" he asked in a way that told her he already knew. At the sound of her name, another head perked up, this one belonging to Gaara, Kankuro's younger- Ino smiled at this thought- brother. Likewise, at the sound of Kankuro's name Sasuke had detached himself from the face of Sakura to look at his old friends. Gaara grinned at Sasuke and Ino both, while Kankuro waved to Sasuke. Both failed to acknowledge Sakura. That made Ino feel much better about Sasuke's own betrayal of her for the pink haired deceiver.

Although Kankuro and Gaara remained friends with Sasuke, they both agreed with Ino's opinion of Sakura. Temari, who, Ino reasoned, was asleep, if the slowly bopping blonde head was anything to go by , was more with Ino then the two male members of the infamous "Suna Kyoudai"**(three guesses. Yeah, it means Sand Siblings)**. She, while not completely renouncing Sasuke, was ignoring him for the time being.

"So" Gaara was asking Sasuke, "You…_**three**_" he stressed the last word while giving Sakura a dirty look "are also exchange students?' Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah; Hokage-sama sent us", Sasuke answered, rolling his eyes ever so slightly, "I sometimes wonder if she's trying to get Sakura-chan and Ino", he looked at Ino, who gave him a death glare,"-chan to kill each other I hope they don't I would be losing two people very important to me" he looked at both the girls- Sakura merely raised an eyebrow while Ino muttered," Nice tact." Kankuro sighed and poked Ino.

"Hey, Ino. C'mon, kiss and make up with Sasuke. It isn't his fault he has horrible taste in girls. Blame it one bad genes" he said lightly. Sasuke glared at Kankuro, but Ino had to fight down a smile.

"Yeah," she quipped," I'm sure his mother does have horrible taste in girls" Sakura turned to her, slightly annoyed, but Gaara and Kankuro laughed, and even Sasuke smiled. Sakura sighed, and pulled a small DVD player out of her backpack. Putting on her headphones, she tuned out the others.

"Actually" Gaara jokingly corrected Ino," I think he was talking about Sasuke-kun's father. He almost has as bad taste in girls as my own." At this, Sasuke started chuckling and Ino was giggling. Gaara grinned at his friends, but Kankuro rolled his eyes. Temari opened one eye, and flicked Gaara in annoyance.

"Gaara, stop saying red-ridiculous things. It's messing up my sleep. And daddy had perfectly fine taste in girls," she added," after all, he and mom produced one out of three normal children" Gaara mumbled a couple things under his breath (Ino only caught two words,'who' and 'daddy') and Kankuro gave Temari a pointed look, Sasuke and Ino both checking to see Sakura hadn't heard; she was smart enough to figure out what Temari had almost said. Temari threw he hands up.

"Soorry, Gaara, Kankuro" she grumbled. Kankuro nodded, then turned to Sasuke and Ino, his face rather suddenly serious.

"Sasuke, Ino." He said, his eyes devoid of their previous humor," It's really messing you two up, being so far apart. And Sasuke, I know it's her, and Ino, I know your gonna blame it on some weird female thing, but I don't even need to look at you to see how bad your both affected by this." Sasuke cringed.

"It's that bad?" he asked apprehensively. Kankuro looked at him straight on.

"A two-year-old with Seishin Senken Sha** very loosely ****SoulSeer** abilities could see what going on with you two. All of it. And I don't like my work being identified so easily. So Ino, at least try to be civil, and Sasuke, limit SakuraSnogFeast to when your alone. And not just for Ino. It makes me sick too", he finished on a lighter note. Ino and Sasuke both nodded. Gaara grinned at them. "Hey Sasuke-kun, maybe I should find a girlfriend Temari hates. It seems to have done wonders for you independent streak" Ino glared at him, while Sasuke simply rolled his eyes.

"Nice wording, Gaara-kin. Lots of tact" he said sarcastically. Ino sighed, then turned her attention to her backpack. Pulling out a notepad, she began to write a letter to her one friend back home as the plane finally began to take off.

_Dear __Naruto__-kun,_

_How's it in __Konaha__? I'm starting this on the plane, but I don't think I'll mail it right now. Guess what? Kankuro-kun and Gaara-kun and Temari-chan __are also exchange students. Kankuro-kun said Sasuke-__ku__- Sasuke and I better start acting nicer to each other. I guess I better listen._

_I had a weird dream last night. Everyone had a tail except me and Temari-chan and Gaara-kun and Sasuke. We only had half tails. And you and Kankuro had lots of tails._

_No mystery about that dream._

First chapter, done. Yay insomnia! By the way, you'll get a basic idea what's going on in one or two chapters. After that, you should be able to piece together the evidence and figure out the big picture (but not the details). Heck, you might even be able to figure it out now. Please review, I love constructive criticism. Thanks!-

Eppie


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